Afghan Warrior

2007-05-05

Civilian Kidnappings

The Taliban insurgents have been kidnapping Afghan and foreign workers and journalists recently. They do this hoping to exchange these civilian journalists with their key commanders. As far as I am concerned, these kidnappings of the foreigners are the best and shameful way for the Taliban group to release their commanders from the Afghan government custody.

First they kidnapped the Italian and Afghan journalists and then they kidnapped the French male and female humanitarian aid workers along with 3 Afghan workers. Later on the French lady was released but the future of the French man along with 3 Afghans is still unknown.

These civilians had nothing to do with the Afghan government. They are just servants who carry out humanitarian aid and help the poor Afghan people. And the journalists tell us the truth about the situation in the region. These journalists aren't only telling the news on behalf the Afghan and coalition forces. They also tell the news on behalf of the Taliban too.

Sometimes we do hear news from these journalists saying the Taliban captured a district in the southern province of Helmand etc. So it means that the journalists aren't only working for a specific organization or group. They work to tell the truth and provide news for the people of the world. So they deserve respect, not death. When the Taliban released the Italian journalist, people were hoping that his fellow Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi, would also be released, but it did not happen. The Italian journalist was released and the Afghan journalist was cowardly killed. Most people blame the Afghan government over the killing of the Afghan journalist, Ajmal Naqshbandi, and I agree with them. The Afghan government could tell the Taliban that we will release your top 3 commanders if you release the Afghan journalist along with the Italian journalist. But the government did not really care about its own citizen and said that the Afghan journalist was kidnapped again after he was released. How could he be kidnapped again if he was with the Italian journalist and had security support? Why were the Taliban commanders not arrested by the Afghan forces right after the release?

The government had a poor exchange plan and poor security management, causing the killing of the Afghan journalist. We were hoping that the Afghan government would do something to free the Afghan journalist, but they refused to release the Taliban commander. After Ajmal Naqshbadi was killed, every Afghan was really upset. I heard some people were telling each other if the Taliban can kill an innocent Afghan, why can't the government behead their commander? We must give them an answer and show them we can also kill. If we do this they may not kill our people in the future.

At the moment the French national along with the three Afghans are detained by the Taliban and the Taliban have warned the Afghan and French governments that they will kill the detainees if the French forces refuse to leave Afghanistan. I think it is a very hard decision for the French government to deal with. Also for the Afghan government. The lives of these 4 men are also very important. We hope both governments find a peaceful solution to this matter so that the bad experience of the Ajmal Naqshbandi killing won't be repeated. But if the Taliban really kill these 4 men then the government should do the same action, just as those Afghans suggested - ie if the Taliban can kill our innocent citizens, why can't our government kill their criminal detainees? Our religion Islam forbids the killing of detainees without a proof of their crimes and without a legal court. Our Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) used to tell his fighters "if you fight the enemies, do not harm their innocent civilians, do not kill the detainee kids and women, do not destroy their farms, feed the detainees the same thing you eat, do not behead or cut their body parts". So I hope the Taliban really call themselves true Muslims and would follow this way and quit beheading people without having a legal court or without proving someone's crime. If they want to fight, then fight and kill the soldiers in a face to face fight. They can release their commanders if they capture a detainee. That would be the right way. But using civilians in order to release their commanders is the worst way.